Lithuania

Dalia Grybauskaite set up her Twitter account two days before the presidential elections on 15 May 2009: “Good morning, Lithuania! Two days to go before the presidential elections”, she tweeted. “Twitter is a great way to communicate your ideas. I am happy to keep up with the world and enjoy Twitter”, she tweeted in June 2009 but activity on her Twitter account stopped at the end of July 2009.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has been tweeting since August 2011. The Prime Minister doesn’t engage with his followers but simply shares his point of view on the key issues affecting Lithuania. Kubilius is mutually following his Latvian counterpart Valdis Dombrovskis and is unilaterally following the Estonian government. His Twitter feed is dominated by the discussion about building a new nuclear power plant to re-establish the Baltic country’s energy independence. In late June he was able to tweet victory: “We did it! Parliament adopted a wise and responsible decision - to build Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant. This is a huge success for all people of Lithuania. Congratulations!”

Kubilius’ government has tweeted since 20 May 2009 on irregular basis important official news in Lithuanian only. The government doesn’t follow anyone nor does it try to engage with its followers. The most re-tweeted tweet is the announcement that the “The Government will provide a reserve of nearly 234 thousand Litas in civilian and humanitarian aid to Japan” after the earthquake and tsunami.